Storage systems, methods and containers

ABSTRACT

A storage system is described where goods are stored in containers and the containers are stored in stacks. Above the stacks runs a grid network of tracks on which load handling devices run. The load handling devices take containers from the stacks and deposit then at alternative locations in the stacks or deposit then at stations where goods may be picked out. The containers comprise liners formed from flame retardant or flame suppressant material. Containers comprising liner means are used to store ignitable items within the storage system.

The present invention relates to storage systems methods and containers.More specifically but not exclusively, it relates to storage systemshaving storage bins or containers in stacks.

Some commercial and industrial activities require systems that enablethe storage and retrieval of a large number of different products. Oneknown type of system for the storage and retrieval of items in multipleproduct lines involves arranging storage containers or containers instacks on top of one another, the stacks being arranged in rows. Thestorage containers or containers are accessed from above, removing theneed for aisles between the rows and allowing more containers to bestored in a given space.

Methods of handling containers stacked in rows have been well known fordecades. In some such systems, for example as described in U.S. Pat. No.2,701,065, to Bertel comprise free-standing stacks of containersarranged in rows in order to reduce the storage volume associated withstoring such containers but yet still providing access to a specificcontainer if required. Access to a given container is made possible byproviding relatively complicated hoisting mechanisms which can be usedto stack and remove given containers from stacks. The cost of suchsystems are, however, impractical in many situations and they havemainly been commercialised for the storage and handling of largeshipping containers.

The concept of using freestanding stacks of containers and providing amechanism to retrieve and store specific containers has been developedfurther, for example as described in EP 0 767 113 B to Cimcorp. '113discloses a mechanism for removing a plurality of stacked containers,using a robotic load handler in the form of a rectangular tube which islowered around the stack of containers, and which is configured to beable to grip a container at any level in the stack. In this way, severalcontainers can be lifted at once from a stack. The movable tube can beused to move several containers from the top of one stack to the top ofanother stack, or to move containers from a stack to an externallocation and vice versa. Such systems can be particularly useful whereall of the containers in a single stack contain the same product (knownas a single-product stack).

In the system described in '113, the height of the tube has to be asleast as high as the height of the largest stack of containers, so thatthat the highest stack of containers can be extracted in a singleoperation. Accordingly, when used in an enclosed space such as awarehouse, the maximum height of the stacks is restricted by the need toaccommodate the tube of the load handler.

EP 1037828 B1 (Autostore) the contents of which are incorporated hereinby reference, describes a system in which stacks of containers arearranged within a frame structure. A system of this type is illustratedschematically in FIGS. 1 to 4 of the accompanying drawings. Robotic loadhandling devices can be controllably moved around the stack on a systemof tracks on the upper most surface of the stack.

Other forms of robotic load handling device are further described in,for example, Norwegian patent number 317366, the contents of which areincorporated herein by reference. FIGS. 3(a) and 3(b) are schematicperspective views of a load handling device from the rear and front,respectively, and FIG. 3(c) is a schematic front perspective view of aload handling device lifting a bin.

A further development of load handling device is described in UK PatentApplication No 1314313.6 (Ocado) where each robotic load handler onlycovers one grid space, thus allowing higher density of load handlers andthus higher throughput of a given size system.

In such known storage systems a large number of containers are stackeddensely. The contents of the containers may contain ignitable orinflammable products, items or goods such as matches, aerosols orsolvents and the increased packing density of the containers may pose afire risk.

According to the invention there is provided a storage systemcomprising: a first set of parallel rails or tracks and a second set ofparallel rails or tracks extending transversely to the first set in asubstantially horizontal plane to form a grid pattern comprising aplurality of grid spaces; a plurality of storage containers arranged instacks, located beneath the rails and; at least one load handling devicedisposed on the grid, arranged to move laterally above the stacks on therails, the load handling device comprising a lifting device arranged tolift one or more containers from a stack; wherein a number of thecontainers 10 comprise liner means the liner means acting so as toprotect the storage system from items 28 contained within the containerthat may pose a safety risk.

According to the invention there is further provided a method of storinginflammable materials in a storage system, the storage system comprisinga first set of parallel rails or tracks and a second set of parallelrails or tracks extending transversely to the first set in asubstantially horizontal plane to form a grid pattern comprising aplurality of grid spaces; a plurality of storage containers arranged instacks, located beneath the rails and; at least one load handling devicedisposed on the grid, arranged to move laterally above the stacks on therails, the load handling device comprising a lifting device arranged tolift one or more containers from a stack; comprising the steps of:lining at least one container with flame retardant liner means; andloading inflammable items in a container comprising said liner such thatinflammable items stored within the container are not in direct contacttherewith.

According to the invention there is further provided a container for usein a grid based storage system in which the container comprises linermeans, the liner means comprising flame retardant or flame suppressantmaterial, in which the storage system forms part of a fulfilment systemof an online retail organisation.

In this way, ignitable or inflammable goods may be more safely stored incontainers in more densely packed storage systems

In this way, the present invention overcomes the problems of the priorart and provides a system and method of increasing the reliability andreducing the overall cost of large bin handling storage systems.

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanyingdiagrammatic drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a frame structure for housinga plurality of stacks of containers in a storage system;

FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of part of the frame structure of FIG.1;

FIGS. 3A and 3B are schematic perspective views, from the rear and frontrespectively, of one form of robotic load handling device for use withthe frame structure of FIGS. 1 and 2, and FIG. 3C is a schematicperspective view of the known load handler device in use lifting a bin;

FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view of a known storage systemcomprising a plurality of load handler devices of the type shown inFIGS. 3A, 3B and 3C, installed on the frame structure of FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 5 is a schematic perspective exploded view of a container forstoring inflammable inventory items such as matches, firelighters andlighter fluid in accordance with one form of the invention, thecontainer comprising a liner sized so as to releasably conform to theinner surface of the container;

FIG. 6 is a schematic perspective view of the container of FIG. 5showing the liner in situ within the container, the inflammable itemsbeing located in the liner within the container; and

FIG. 7 is a schematic perspective view of the container of FIG. 6 with afurther container located thereon, the upper container acting so as toform a lid on the container of FIGS. 5 and 6, containing the inflammableitems and acting so as to enable the containers 10 to be stacked.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, stackable bins, known as containers 10, arestacked on top of one another to form stacks 12. The stacks 12 arearranged in a grid frame structure 14 in a warehousing or manufacturingenvironment. FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of the framestructure 14, and FIG. 2 is a top-down view showing a single stack 12 ofcontainers 10 arranged within the frame structure 14. Each bin 10typically holds a plurality of product items (not shown), and theproduct items within a bin 10 may be identical, or may be of differentproduct types depending on the application.

The frame structure 14 comprises a plurality of upright members 16 thatsupport horizontal members 18, 20. A first set of parallel horizontalmembers 18 is arranged perpendicularly to a second set of parallelhorizontal members 20 to form a plurality of horizontal grid structuressupported by the upright members 16. The members 16, 18, 20 aretypically manufactured from metal. The containers 10 are stacked betweenthe members 16, 18, 20 of the frame structure 14, so that the framestructure 14 guards against horizontal movement of the stacks 12 ofcontainers 10, and guides vertical movement of the containers 10.

The top level of the frame structure 14 includes rails 22 arranged in agrid pattern across the top of the stacks 12. Referring additionally toFIGS. 3 and 4, the rails 22 support a plurality of robotic load handlingdevices 30. A first set 22 a of parallel rails 22 guide movement of theload handling devices 30 in a first direction (X) across the top of theframe structure 14, and a second set 22 b of parallel rails 22, arrangedperpendicular to the first set 22 a, guide movement of the load handlingdevices 30 in a second direction (Y), perpendicular to the firstdirection. In this way, the rails 22 allow movement of the load handlingdevices 30 in two dimensions in the X-Y plane, so that a load handlingdevice 30 can be moved into position above any of the stacks 12. It willbe appreciated that the first 22 a and second 22 b set of trackscomprise double tracks that allow robotic load handling devices 30 topass each other whilst over adjacent grid squares.

Each load handling device 30 comprises a vehicle 32 which is arranged totravel in the X and Y directions on the rails 22 of the frame structure14, above the stacks 12. A first set of wheels 34, consisting of a pairof wheels 34 on the front of the vehicle 32 and a pair of wheels 34 onthe back of the vehicle 32, are arranged to engage with two adjacentrails of the first set 22 a of rails 22. Similarly, a second set ofwheels 36, consisting of a pair of wheels 36 on each side of the vehicle32, are arranged to engage with two adjacent rails of the second set 22b of rails 22. Each set of wheels 34, 36 can be lifted and lowered, sothat either the first set of wheels 34 or the second set of wheels 36 isengaged with the respective set of rails 22 a, 22 b at any one time.

When the first set of wheels 34 is engaged with the first set of rails22 a and the second set of wheels 36 are lifted clear from the rails 22,the wheels 34 can be driven, by way of a drive mechanism (not shown)housed in the vehicle 32, to move the load handling device 30 in the Xdirection. To move the load handling device 30 in the Y direction, thefirst set of wheels 34 are lifted clear of the rails 22, and the secondset of wheels 36 are lowered into engagement with the second set ofrails 22 a. The drive mechanism can then be used to drive the second setof wheels 36 to achieve movement in the Y direction.

In this way, one or more robotic load handling devices 30 can movearound the top surface of the stacks 12 on the frame structure 14 underthe control of a central picking system (not shown). Each robotic loadhandling device 30 is provided with means for lifting out one or morecontainers or containers from the stack to access the required products.In this way, multiple products can be accessed from multiple locationsin the grid and stacks at any one time.

FIG. 4 shows stacks 12 of containers 10 located within the frameworkstructure 14, the containers 10 being held in stacks 12 by co-operatingsurfaces of the containers 10 forming interference fits between adjacentcontainers 10 in the stack 12. Furthermore, FIG. 4 shows a typicalstorage system as described above, the system having a plurality of loadhandling devices 30 active on the tracks 22 above the stacks 12 ofcontainers 10.

It will be appreciated that there may be a large number of containers inany given storage system and that many different goods may be stored inthe stacks, each container may contain different goods within a singlestack. Such dense packing of products and items in containers may pose afire risk particularly if some of the items are inflammable or ignitablesuch as matches, nail varnish remover, other solvents, charcoal,aerosols or other materials or fluids in pressurised cans. It will beappreciated that these are merely examples of ignitable or inflammableproducts that may need to be stored safely in the storage system andthat the invention envisages any type of inflammable, ignitable orflammable product may be stored as described below.

FIG. 5 shows a liner 50 for a container 10 in accordance with one formof the invention. The liner 50 is formed from a suitable material suchas metal or a flame retardant plastics material. A metal liner 50 may beformed from aluminium or aluminium alloys or from mild steel or anyother suitable metal. A flame retardant plastics liner 50 may be formedfrom PVC or a glass loaded polymer with suitable flame retardantproperties. It will be appreciated that these are examples only and thatthe liner 50 may be formed from any suitable flame retardant material.

The liner 50 is formed so as to conform to the inner surface of thecontainer 10. The liner 50 is formed so as to be removable from thecontainer 10 either manually or robotically. The liner 50 is shaped suchthat the ability of the containers 10 to be stacked is not inhibited.

In this way, containers 10 comprising liners 50 may be stored in thestorage system described above with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.Accordingly when inflammable items 28 are required to be stored in thestorage system, a container 10 having a liner 50 may be used.

Preferably, any container 10 comprising a liner 50 and an inflammableproduct or products 28 is stored in a position within a stack 12 suchthat there is a further container 10 above the lined container 10, thebase of the container 10 immediately above the lined container forming alid over the inflammable items 28 held within the liner 50 in thecontainer 10.

When inflammable items 28 for storage in the system are received at theinput of the storage system (not shown), the items 28 are loaded in to acontainer 10 comprising a liner 50. This loading may occur manually orrobotically. Alternatively, a load handling device 30 may act to collecta container 10 comprising a liner 50 from the one of the stacks 12 ofthe storage system. Such a stored, lined container, which may alreadycontain inflammable items 28 of the same or different type as those tobe stored in the system, or which may be empty, is transported to anappropriate goods inward of the storage system and the products 28placed in the lined container.

After the items 28 are placed in the liner 50 in the container 10, aload handling device 30 transports the loaded container 10 to anappropriate position and places the container 10 in a stack 12 withinthe storage system.

When a customer order requires an inflammable product 28, the container10 comprising the liner 50 is removed from the relevant stack 12 andtransported to a pick station (not shown) where the requisite item oritems 28 are removed from the container and added to the customer order.The customer order may include one or more inflammable items and mayinclude further items such as fresh produce or other non-food items. Thecustomer order is preferably packed in to a delivery container inpreparation for onward transmission to a delivery vehicle for deliveryto the customer. The order packing may be manual or automatic and mayoccur on the grid or at a pick station (not shown). The deliverycontainer may comprise a container comprising bags, boxes or furtherliners or any other suitable delivery packaging. The delivery containermay be temporarily returned to the storage system to await onwardtransmission to a delivery vehicle.

In another method of picking inflammable items 28 from the storagesystem, a load handling device 30 may collect a container 10 comprisinginflammable items and transport it to a first pick station for a firstitem 28 to be removed and added to a customer order. A load handlingdevice 30 may then transport the same container 10 to a further pickstation (not shown) to fulfil a further customer order and this maycontinue until such a time that the container 10 comprising the liner 50no longer comprises any inflammable items 28 or until no furthercustomer orders require inflammable or ignitable items 28 from the givencontainer 10.

It will be appreciated that if the container 10 no longer containsinflammable or ignitable item then it may be returned to the goodsinward portion of the storage system for refilling or it may be returnedin to a stack 12 until it is required. Furthermore, it will beappreciated that the liner 50 may be removed at an appropriate positionon the grid and the container 10 used to store products and items notrequiring a liner 50.

It will be appreciated that in any given storage system there may be anumber of containers 10 comprising liners 50 that are used to storeignitable or inflammable products 28. Furthermore, multiples of the sameproduct 28 may be stored in a given lined container 10. Alternatively, aplurality of different products 28 may be stored in a given linedcontainer 10. In a further form of the invention, a container 10 maycomprise two or more liners 50 acting so as to sub-divide the containerin to two or more separate portions thereby enabling different products28 to be separated within a single container 10.

It will further be appreciated that multiple containers 10 comprisingliners 50 may be stacked in a given stack 12, a single stack 12 maycomprise only containers 10 comprising liners 50, a plurality of stacks12 may comprise only one lined container and some stacks 12 may notcomprise any lined containers.

Furthermore, the liner means 50 described above are removable from thecontainers 10. However, it will be appreciated that the liner means maybe fixedly attached to the interior surface of the container 10 or theliner means 50 may comprise a coating on the internal surface of thecontainer 10.

Moreover, the embodiments described above and detailed in theaccompanying figures assume that the storage system comprises containers10 in stacks 12 disposed within a framework 14 in an unfettered manner.It will be appreciated that the system may be partitioned by suitablepartitioning means into smaller sub sections for example for safetyreasons.

It will also be appreciated that the partitioning may have additionaladvantages, for example, partitioning enables sections of the storagesystem to be isolated from other sections. This may be necessary ifthere is a fire, for example, and fire suppressant means are used in agiven area to extinguish the fire. Furthermore, in the case where thesystem is used for alternative uses, there may be advantages in havingdifferent gaseous atmospheres in different portions of the system. Thismay be achieved by partitioning the system. It will be appreciated thatthe partitioning means may be temporary and remotely deployable, forexample roller shutters disposed under the grid.

The partitioning of the storage system enables containers 10 comprisinginflammable or ignitable items to be stored separately from containers10 comprising other items, products or goods.

Many variations and modifications not explicitly described above arealso possible without departing from the scope of the invention asdefined in the appended claims.

1. A storage system, comprising: a first set of parallel rails or tracksand a second set of parallel rails or tracks extending transversely tothe first set in a substantially horizontal plane to form a grid patternincluding a plurality of grid spaces; a plurality of storage containersarranged in stacks, located beneath the rails or tracks; and at leastone load handling device disposed on the grid, arranged to movelaterally above the stacks on the rails or tracks, the load handlingdevice including a lifting device arranged to lift one or more storagecontainers from a stack; wherein at least one of the storage containersincludes a liner, the liner formed so as to substantially conform to aninner surface of the at least one storage container, the liner formedfrom flame retardant materials acting so as to protect the storagesystem from an inflammable item contained within the at least one linedstorage container that may pose a safety risk, the liner having a shapesuch that the ability of the storage containers to be stacked is notinhibited, wherein the at least one lined storage container and theinflammable item is stored in a position within a stack such that thereis a further storage container immediately above the at least one linedstorage container forming a lid on the at least one lined storagecontainer and the inflammable item.
 2. The storage system according toclaim 1, wherein the liner comprises at least one liner formed so as tosubstantially conform to the internal surface of the container, theliner acting so as to protect the at least one lined storage containerfrom items contained therein.
 3. The storage system according to claim1, wherein the liner comprises two co-operating liners acting togetherso as to conform substantially to the inside surface of the at least onelined storage container.
 4. The storage system according to claim 1,wherein the liner comprises material capable of preventing the spread offire in the event of an item contained within the at least one linedstorage container combusting.
 5. The storage system according to claim1, wherein the liner comprises a flame retardant plastics or compositeliner.
 6. The storage system according to claim 5, wherein the linercomprises PVC or glass reinforced plastics composite material.
 7. Thestorage system according to claim 1, wherein the liner is removable fromthe at least one lined storage container.
 8. The storage systemaccording to claim 1, wherein the liner is fixed to the container. 9.The storage system according to claim 8, wherein the liner is a coatingformed on an internal surface of the at least one lined storagecontainer.
 10. The storage system according to claim 1, wherein thestacks include at least one storage container which is not lined.
 11. Amethod of storing inflammable materials in a storage system, the storagesystem including a first set of parallel rails or tracks and a secondset of parallel rails or tracks extending transversely to the first setin a substantially horizontal plane to form a grid pattern including aplurality of grid spaces; a plurality of storage containers arranged instacks, located beneath the rails or tracks and at least one loadhandling device disposed on the grid, arranged to move laterally abovethe stacks on the rails or tracks, the load handling device including alifting device arranged to lift one or more storage containers from astack, the method comprising: providing a removable, flame retardantliner, and lining at least one storage container with said removableliner; at an input of the storage system, loading an inflammable iteminto said at least one lined storage container such that the inflammableitem stored within the at least one lined storage container is in directcontact with the liner and not in direct contact with the storagecontainer; transporting and placing the at least one lined storagecontainer and the inflammable item in a position within a stack suchthat there is a further storage container immediately above the at leastone lined storage container; when the inflammable item is required,retrieving said at least one lined storage container and the inflammableitem and removing the inflammable item; and if the at least one linedstorage container no longer contains inflammable materials, returningthe at least one lined storage container to an inward portion of thestorage system or to a stack until it is required.
 12. The methodaccording to claim 11, wherein the liner comprises at least one linerformed so as to substantially conform to an internal surface of the atleast one lined storage container, the liner acting so as to protect theat least one lined storage container from products contained therein.13. The method according to claim 11, wherein the liner comprises twoco-operating liners acting together so as to conform substantially tothe inside surface of the at least one lined storage container.
 14. Themethod according to claim 11, wherein the liner comprises materialcapable of preventing the spread of fire in the event of a productcontained within the at least one lined storage container combusting.15. The method according to claim 11, wherein the liner comprises ametal liner.
 16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the metalliner comprises aluminum, an aluminum alloy, steel or any other suitablemetal.
 17. The method according to claim 11, wherein the liner comprisesa flame retardant plastics or composite liner.
 18. The method accordingto claim 17, wherein the liner comprises PVC or glass reinforcedplastics composite material.
 19. The method according to claim 11comprising: loading the inflammable item into the at least one linedstorage container, after removing the inflammable item from the at leastone lined storage container, loading the removed inflammable item into adelivery container wherein the loading of items may be manual orautomated.
 20. The method according to claim 19, wherein the loading ofitems into the delivery container takes place on the grid or at a pickstation.
 21. The method according to claim 19 comprising: temporarilyreturning the delivery container to the storage system prior todelivering the delivery container to a customer.
 22. The methodaccording to claim 11 comprising: removing a liner from the at least onelined storage container and using the container as an ordinary storagecontainer.